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Post by mitchell on Jan 27, 2014 0:16:51 GMT -5
Yea NG+ so far isn't too bad, I am charging through the levels at a rapid pace, about to ring the second bell and only been playing 1.5-2 hours max in this playthrough. The great scythe is one sweet weapon if you know how to use it, I am getting quite good at judging its range, I keep catching enemies right at the edge of it's attack arc. I have dumped havels armor, I can dodge well enough to not need that extra armor boost, the stamina regen and fast roll are more important to me. I picked up the sunlight spear, using gwyn's soul, now only one miracle to go, and boss weapons of course.
I am getting a lot of souls so may start leveling up another pyromancy glove like you suggested, and I guess Ornsteins armor is worth a look, my carry weight is getting quite high (35 endurance) so I can definitely afford more protection while keeping my fast roll. Thanks for the help !
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Jan 30, 2014 0:06:55 GMT -5
Well, thanks a lot, Mitch. Because of talking about it with you, I'm off to play Dark Souls again myself.   This is what I'm thinking of aiming for. I haven't tried out the Great Scythe yet, but your success with it makes it look appealing.  With this build I'll be able to cast most Miracles, Sorceries, and Pyromancies. Likely run the Mist pyromancies so I can smokescreen to make my other spells hard to dodge, which is a pretty bad weakness for spells in this game. The other equipment will keep me light and moving quickly. Shield is subject to change, and I have enough Dex in the build to maybe take the Gold and Dark Silver Tracers for a spin. Also plan to try Velka's Rapier again. Did it on my previous mage character, and can't remember why I ditched it. |
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Post by mitchell on Jan 30, 2014 3:42:41 GMT -5
Well you start, I finish, finally got the platinum early this afternoon, stoked as I was getting a bit burnt out on the game by that third playthrough. I was being sloppy and making a ton of mistakes which you can't make when you take half a healthbar of damage from half the enemies. Anyway, it's over now, might take a break and then on to Demon's Souls which I am looking forward too, haven't played that game in over a year and i bet it will show !.
Final time was just under 53 hours and SL 126
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Jan 30, 2014 18:47:34 GMT -5
Congrats on the plat. What'll probably show more than anything is the way Dark Souls had more actions available to you like jumping/plunging attacks. It's fun to run at an enemy and suddenly realize, "Oh. I can't do that." *thwack* Made a trip to the catacombs way too early (Aural Decoy ftw) and picked up the Great Scythe, then got lucky enough in the Depths to pick up a couple of Green Titanite Shards, so it's now Magic +2. New phantom glitch happened to me too. I was dropping my sign outside Capra to lower the Sunbro Faith requirement and I get summoned. I show up and the host and a Sunbro are already there. Cool. Wait, why does it still say "Summoning Phantom?" The limit is 2 friendlies. Sure enough up pops another Sunbro. Now, I've had it happen that I'll go to invade a person and show up as a White Phantom and vice versa, so maybe that's what happened. Never seen 3 friendlies before though. So we charged in and it was glorious! Why? We rushed Capra...in a small space...and there were too many of us for him to deal with. Sweet, sweet karma.  |
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Feb 3, 2014 12:23:53 GMT -5
After ~500 hours playing, I finally saw my first Vagrant last night while heading into the Chasm of the Abyss. Red, clawed variety. It dropped a single Humanity item. No big whoop. It was cool to finally see one though.
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Post by mitchell on Feb 4, 2014 7:30:26 GMT -5
Well never come across one of them myself, but then again, less than 150 hours game time (a lot considering 4-5 playthroughs and a platinum trophy), prob will never see one, I love Dark Souls but Dark Souls 2 is out in just over a month and after platinuming Demon's Souls I am intending to take a break from the series so I'm not burnt out when the sequel drops next month.
Demon's Souls hasn't been too tough this time around, just need to finish tower of latria and rest of world 1 and then time for farming, not looking forward to trying to get a pure bladestone !. Found this guy on youtube called IvanDrago2k who only uploads dark souls/demon's souls videos. He has made a video walkthrough for attaining the platinum in both games, highlighting key events so that you don't miss anything, I am using his guide for Demon's Souls , specifically for the world tendency events/items. I am rolling with faith build, often dual wielding my blessed +5 meridium hammer so I can take out most enemies in 1-2 hits. I killed the red-eye knight in 1-1 right at the beginning of my playthrough (level 1) by backstabbing him and made short work of those dual katana black skeletons in world 4, a lot easier than they used to be !
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Feb 4, 2014 13:50:19 GMT -5
Ah, the old Miridan Hammer. Favored weapon of many PvPers, IIRC.
Had a fun co-op experience last night. I was called in from near the Chasm bonfire to fight Manus not long after beating him to a pulp myself earlier (also with an assist, but I'd done it solo before on other characters, and had made a few attempts that got him close on this one). The player who summoned me expresses Joy and I soon see why. I prepare to pick off that annoying enemy that will charge you from behind as you're descending near the beginning only to find him already dispatched. In fact, everything in our way has been slain, meaning they've run from the bonfire to the fog door looking for summons who knows how long.
We dive into the fog, and Manus goes for them. Some homing souls in the tail tell Manus his enemy's got backup. As I dodge his reprisal, a lightning spear slams into his shoulder. Another about face, another spell between the shoulder blades, followed by another lightning strike. We act in perfect unison to keep him turning back and forth between us.
He's down to about a quarter life and we both seem to run out of our respective spells and miracles at nearly the same time. I still have my Black Flame pyromancy for close range, but my glove's not equipped. My build's Vit is kind of low, and I really don't want to get caught without my shield by one of his swipes, so I need to switch out my catalyst.
My companion deftly dodges while I make the quick switch and run for Manus' flank. A few blasts from me and smacks from them, and Manus bites the big one.
A short time later I get a message saying thanks and that I'm a great co-op partner, which I return wholeheartedly. Our styles and execution were perfectly matched in this particular fight, and we both came through with barely a scratch on us. With a little effort you can muddle through any fight as you co-op, but jolly cooperation like that is once in a blue moon.
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Post by mitchell on Feb 21, 2014 0:26:02 GMT -5
Only 4-4 left now, going for black phantoms atm, then farming for weapon trophies. Hopefully I don't spend hours and hours trying to get this pure bladestone...
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Post by mitchell on Feb 21, 2014 22:08:55 GMT -5
Gah, pure bladestone really is a b**ch to get, been farming the BP Black Skeleton near the end of 4-2 (backtracking from old hero archstone) and 3 hours later still nothing. I am literally an hour or two from the plat if I can get this so I'm going to keep trying...
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Feb 21, 2014 22:35:34 GMT -5
Far be it from me to say I told you so... But I did. 
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Post by mitchell on Feb 22, 2014 4:27:01 GMT -5
Well whatever I got it 1-2 hours later anyway . Got the platinum trophy this afternoon, Old King Doran glitched on me which was nice. I cast death cloud on him and he just stood there until he died, hear he is one heck of a fight so guess I got very lucky. Anyways, raced through 1-1 and 1-2 again, then went to 1-3 to unlock ability to buy the final spell which gave me the final two trophies. Now only 3 weeks until Dark Souls II !, got my black armor edition preordered |
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Feb 22, 2014 13:12:45 GMT -5
Congratulations. Looking like I won't have the funds for a while myself. But rest assured that as soon as I do it's as good as bought. |
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Post by mitchell on Mar 10, 2014 20:42:36 GMT -5
Ok so Dark Souls 2 will be out in a few hours for N.A players (I have to wait another couple of days to get my copy because of the stupid later release for EU) and a ton of people have early copies, couldn't handle the hype so I have been researching heavily on the game. Been frequenting other forums and reading opinions, looks like 34 bosses in the game, difficulty up from Dark Souls and also a dramatic increase in game length over Dark Souls. I have heard that the difficulty of the bosses isn't as high as Dark Souls, there are always going to be pushovers but I want more on the level of O&S and Manus. However I have also heard that many players overlevelled themselves for many of the bosses, really hope that atleast half of those bosses provide a challenge and atleast 5 are controller throwing difficulty for lack of better words. I'm so hyped for this game, can't wait to get my copy on Thursday !
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Post by CobaltMonkey on Mar 11, 2014 3:39:53 GMT -5
It's unlikely I'll be able to afford it for some time, sadly, so I'll be doing my best to avoid spoilers.
*unplugs internet, hides under a rock*
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Post by mitchell on Mar 11, 2014 4:03:56 GMT -5
That's unfortunate, seems like I'll be the only Sixthnation member picking up the game at launch, not that it's a surprise. I'll be sure to post updates on what I think although it will be hard to do so without minor enemy and area spoilers
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Post by mitchell on Mar 14, 2014 1:08:26 GMT -5
Got my copy yesturday, put about 8-9 hours into it, I love the game. They have taken everything that made Dark Souls great and made it even better, more areas, more different enemy types, better visuals, more bosses, nearly everything has been improved. I would say I am about 30% through at this stage, beaten a handful of bosses. Only one of them really gave me trouble because he comes very early when you are very underpowered. Yet I went away to fight through another area, came back and owned him first try taking barely any damage. The bosses are definitely tough but very beatable, the gargoyles and sentinals in particular have given others plenty of grief. I'm taking a break at the beginning of Huntsman's Copse (beta area), will be back in the hour to continue !
One thing that will give me problems is gear, since the game has only been out a few days, it's hard to find specific info, I will have to swap out my weapon soon enough. One thing to take note is that 100% physical damage reduction shields are very rare in the first few hours, the first one you find is after the boss that I died a lot to, so be warned.
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Post by mitchell on Mar 15, 2014 21:02:00 GMT -5
15+ hours later and I am around halfway and struggling big time. Finally met a boss that I couldn't beat in 2-3 attempts and he is really kicking my ass, so much that I am intending to farm a shield that will be an enormous help against him. In fact, that whole area is a huge pain and a big step up in difficulty, I can see myself clearing it out in a day or two tho, while exploring alternative areas if course.
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Post by RHYN0X on Mar 16, 2014 7:12:44 GMT -5
I want it badly, but with building a house, selling a house, and a PS4 (Infamous:SS already paid for and coming out), I don't have the money or the time for it. Some day though, some day.
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Post by mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 0:46:49 GMT -5
No big deal, I've just been going on Reddit to discuss the game. Oh and I have beaten that painful area and its two bosses, as I expected, the guy I was having trouble with was easy once I got that shield (had to reallocate my points to use it but found another soul vessel and reallocated my points back after the boss fight). There is also another, more major boss in that level, which I proceeded to beat too, although one of his attacks was difficult to dodge which lead to a few early deaths before I came out victorious. This is a huge game, I think I am barely halfway through,still heaps of areas left for me to explore and loads of bosses still to be defeated, that's not even counting optional bosses which, by all accounts that I have heard, are among the toughest in the game. Just spent 6+ hours on university work so I am gearing up to hop back into the game soon ! . Once you guys get the game I'll hopefully be able to offer some tips I have learnt along the way, if it's needed of course . |
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Post by mitchell on Mar 25, 2014 15:23:09 GMT -5
Just so everyone knows, I beat the game last Friday, was fantastic although I found an easy way to beat the final boss. The game is superb, lived up to my expectations in terms of the environments, game length, graphics, enemy types, online components etc. The bosses weren't too challenging but all the fights were enjoyable and there were definitely a few tricky encounters. On the other hand, ,I haven't started NG+ yet because I still have three optional bosses to go, one does massive damage and has a ton of health, another one is behind a gauntlet of super tough enemies (fast, high health, high damage, going to be a huge effort to get through), even if I got through the boss is supposed to be the hardest in the game. The final one I have seen good strategies for, but unfortunately I could easily die to him and there are no bonfires close by.
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